London Detainee Support Group

Thank you for your interest in the post of COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER.

This application pack contains the following:

1.Background notes on Detention Action

2.Application form

3.Job description

4.Person specification

5.Conditions of service

6. Equal opportunities monitoring form

Please return your completed application form by email (please write “Communications Officer recruitment” in the header)or send in an envelope marked “Recruitment” to: Silvia Maritati, Detention Action,Unit 3R, Leroy House, 436 Essex Rd, London N1 3QP. We will acknowledge receipt of all applications sent by email.

CLOSING DATE:10am Tuesday 30th August 2016

INTERVIEWS:9th September 2016

GUIDANCE ON FILLING IN APPLICATION FORM

The enclosed person specification lists the essential requirements for this post. When short-listing for interview, the selection panel can only consider the information contained in your application form. You will not be short-listed for interview unless you can show that you meet these requirements. Your application will be marked on your response to the Relevant Skills and Experience section, where you should address each point on the person specificationand give examples. We encourage applicants to take 4 to 5 pages on this section.

Please use the form provided. A pre-produced curriculum vitae will not be accepted.

Please also provide an example of your written work.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Detention Action is a registered charity(charity no. 1065066), which was founded in 1993 as London Detainee Support Group. Detention Action aims toreform immigration detention at an immigration and policy level.

The advertised post is a new post, created by splitting the current Campaigns and Communications Officer post. The new Communications Officer and Campaigns Officer posts will work together closely, under the supervision of the Director. The Director also manages the Community Support Coordinator, who is responsible for the operation of our innovative alternative to detention project. The Casework and Policy Manager line manages three Advocacy Coordinators, who in turn supervise a pool of around 30 volunteer visitors and around 10 office-based Advocacy and Support Volunteers to deliver our casework and support for people in detention. This new post will bring the staff team to nine people in total.

The post-holder will spend 20 per cent of their time on the activities of a new migration communications hub, based at Global Dialogue in Covent Garden. The hub is an innovative project established in May 2016 which aims to ensure that the positive case for migration to the UK is put across more effectively. The hub is an initiative of Global Dialogue, a charity (1122052) and limited company (05775827).

Detention Action provides support and advice to migrants in detention in Heathrow Immigration Removal Centre in London and the Verne IRC in Dorset, as well as people detained in prisons in the London area. We provide advice and emotional support by telephone from our office, hold on-site advice surgeries and arrange volunteer visitors.

Detention Action also uses evidence gained from our front-line work to lobby and campaign for improvements to detention policy and practice. We have played a key role in the successful civil society mobilization for detention reform, which has led the Government to commit for the first time to reducing its use of detention. We worked closely with allies in the Detention Forum network to build a broad civil society coalition for an end to indefinite detention, which led to a highly critical parliamentary inquiry and legislation introducing limited automatic judicial oversight for the first time. We work closely with experts-by-experience of detention to change the debate. The Freed Voices group are increasingly high-profile spokespeople on detention issues, and play an active role in shaping the campaign.

Our strategic litigation led to the (seemingly permanent) suspension of the Detained Fast Track asylum process, under which thousands of asylum seekers were detained every year in a process that the courts found was ‘systemically unfair and unjust’. We were awarded the Liberty Human Rights Campaign of the Year Award 2015.

We are increasingly involved in solutions-based advocacy that aims to reshape the detention and immigration systems. The Community Support Project is an innovative alternative to detention for young ex-offenders at risk of long-term immigration detention, which assists them to reintegrate after release, minimizing the risk of absconding and reoffending. We will be publishing a new report on opportunities for alternatives to detention in the UK and Europe in September 2016. The reports and more information on our work are available on our website.

Our largest funders are the Oak Foundation, Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, Barrow Cadbury Trust, Henry Smith Charity, and Trust for London.

DETENTION ACTION

Employment Application Form: Communications officer

Family name: …………………………………………………...

Other names: ……………………………………………………

Languages:Spoken levelWritten level

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………….……………………………..

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Address:Contact details

……………………………………………….Telephone: ………………………………

……………………………………………….

……………………………………………….Email: ……………………………………….

References

Please give the names, addresses and telephone numbers of two people, one of whom should be your present or most recent employer, whom we can approach for references. Please note that we will notcontact references unless we offer you the post and you accept it.

1………………………………………..Capacity known?

………………………………………..…………………………………

………………………………………..How long?

………………………………………..….………………………………

2 ………………………………………..Capacity known?

………………………………………..…..………………………………

………………………………………..How long?

………………………………………...….………………………………

If appointed, how much notice are you required to give in your present post? When could you start work with Detention Action?

……………………………………..…………………………………………………………

Where did you hear about this post?

……………………………………………………………………………………………….

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Please outline your education, providing details of any qualifications, the institutions that awarded them and the dates they were awarded. Include any training undertaken as part of your employment or voluntary work.

WORK EXPERIENCE

Please start with your present or most recent employment and work backwards. Include any voluntary work you have undertaken. Give the name of your employers, job titles, dates and current salary (if applicable) and a brief description of the work you have done. You may wish to continue on a separate sheet.

RELEVANT SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

Please use this section to outline the skills and experience you have gained, either in paid or voluntary work, at home or in education, that are relevant to this post, and which would enable you to fulfil the duties of this post. In completing this part of the application form, please address the points inthe Person Specification,using the same numbering order.

An example of my written work is attached / available at the following link:

Declaration:

I confirm that the information I have given in the application is true to the best of my knowledge.

Signature (please type if sending by email): ……………………………………… Date: …………………….

JOB DESCRIPTION

POST:COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER

REPORTING TO: DIRECTOR

PURPOSE OF THE JOB:to be responsible for communications with supporters and the public, BRINGING PEOPLE TOGETHER BOTH INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THE ORGANISATION TO COMMUNICATE EFFECTIVELY ON DETENTION

Main areas of responsibility:

Strategic development

To develop and implement a communications strategy to support the aims of the organisation, including innovative solutions-based campaigning for detention reform and alternatives to detention, engaging a range of audiences from government to communities;
Working with the Migration Communications Hub, to develop and implement a strategy linking detention campaigning and communications with the wider issuesofmigration justice in the UK;

Media

To manage external communications with supporters and the public on the campaign for reform of indefinite detention and Detention Action’s wider work, including through producing newsletters, campaign actions, email updates, articles, photography, video and social media posts;
To raise the profile of detention issues in the mainstream media, including identifying and brokering interview and other media opportunities, engaging and pitching to journalists, responding to media enquiries, writing press releases, and giving interviews;
To build and develop relationships with press and public affairs contacts;
To actively monitor media coverage and impact achieved across all media, collating results and presenting reports;
To manage the organisation’s communications infrastructure including website, social media;

Campaigning

Assist in organising public events relating to Detention Action's campaigns;
Working with the Campaigns Officer, to assist experts-by-experience to be heard in the public debate on detention;

Interagency

To initiate and develop relationships with partner organisations to improve joint working and coordinate communications output;
To participate in coordinating and delivering the communications of the Detention Forum network;
To represent Detention Action at external meetings and forums;

Organisational

To attend internal meetings, including taking minutes;
To be self-servicing with regards to administrative work.

The Communications Officer is to undertake such duties and responsibilities appropriate to this post not specifically mentioned in this Job Description, as allocated by the Director. This job description can be changed at any time according to the needs of the organisation.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Post: COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER

Experience, attainments and knowledge

Essential:

Proven track record in an external communications or media role, preferably coordinating communications for an NGO;
Excellent communication skills, including building relationships with journalists, service-users and partner organisations;
Ability to develop and implement a communications strategy targeting a range of audiences;
Ability to communicate proactively with journalists, including identifying, preparing and pitching stories;
Understanding and experience of print, broadcast, online and social media;
A high standard of written English, including experience of writing and editing campaign materials, press releases and articles;
Ability to work collaboratively with partner organisations to develop shared communications strategies and messaging;
Understanding of detention and migration issues;
Proven ability to work in a team in a stressful and pressurised environment;
Experience of designing and maintaining online communication infrastructure, including knowledge of web design, Wordpress, Mailchimp;
Ability to work flexibly, including outside normal office hours when required;
Demonstrable commitment to the principles of equal opportunities.

Desirable:

Experience of organizing campaign events;
Experience of giving media interviews;
Strong existing media contacts in a relevant field.

CONDITIONS OF SERVICE

POST: COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER

Salary: £28,500per annum, plus 3% pension contributions.

Contract: This is a permanent position.

Working Week: 35 hours (with some evening work and occasional weekend commitments).

Annual Leave: 25 days per annum plus public holidays.

Probation: 3 months.

Place of work:Unit 3R, Leroy House, 436 Essex Rd, London N1 3QP.

Flexibility: The job description sets out duties that exist at the moment. They may vary from time to time without changing the general character of the duties or the level of responsibility. Such variations may be a common occurrence and cannot in themselves justify a reconsideration of the post.

Equal Opportunities: Detention Action is committed to operating as an equal opportunities organisation. We welcome applications from refugees and other migrants, and in particular from former detainees, to reflect the composition of our client group.

We are not able to arrange work permits for people who do not already have the right to work in the UK.

DETENTION ACTION EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES MONITORING FORM.

Detention Action recognises that its equal opportunities policy, in itself, does not necessarily ensure equal opportunities. It therefore has a system for checking whether the policy is being carried out and whether it is working. Without records it is virtually impossible to know whether or not people are being discriminated against. Detention Actioncollects statistics on job applicants, volunteers and service users to ensure we are providing an equal service to all and equal access to job and volunteer opportunities. Data from monitoring records will be analysed to see whether there are any disparities and whether discrimination might be occurring.

We therefore ask you to complete the following form and return it to us. All data is anonymous and will only be kept for the purpose outlined above. COMPLETION OF THIS FORM IS ENTIRELY VOLUNTARY. IT WILL BE SEPARATED FROM THE APPLICATION FORM IMMEDIATELY ON RECEIPT, AND CAN BE POSTED SEPARATELY IF YOU PREFER.

1. What is your ethnic group?

Please choose one section from A to E and then tick the appropriate box.

A. White

British

Irish

Any other White background, please specify:

B. Mixed

White and Black Caribbean

White and Black African

White and Asian

Any other Mixed background, please specify:

C. Asian or Asian British

Indian

Pakistani

Bangladeshi

Any other Asian background, please specify:

D. Black or Black British

Caribbean

African

Any other Black background, please specify:

E. Chinese or other ethnic group

Chinese

Any other, please specify:

2. How old are you?

3. What is your gender?

MaleFemale

4. Do you consider yourself to have a disability?

Yes

If ‘yes’, please explain:

THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP

Staff/ Communications Officer